Comments on: Random is a state of mind

By: D. C. daCosta

D. C. daCosta — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 02:42:35 +0000

It seems to me that bookselling/publishing is no more random than any other business in which something is sold.

There are great concepts that are well-executed that fail anyway, and there are stupid concepts shoddily done that make money hand over fist. Literature is a commodity just like pork bellies, and if you can’t present it as “the other white meat”…you may be out of luck.

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:00:15 +0000

By the way, thanks for the heads-up on this all-too-easily-missed book; (which confirms a lot of what my spy satellites have been reporting) inside accounts about this business are as rare as postcards from Oz, y’know…

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:54:55 +0000

We’ve all read the hot title, or new work by a bestselling author, and found ourselves asking what all the fuss is about. The good part of the randomness of the industry is it represents intelligent people making intelligent choices. The bad part of it is that there are thousands of variables that make the difference between the best seller list and the clearance rack, and the industry controls only a few of them. The industry would do itself well to focus on quality rather than trying to focus on trying to predict what will sell.

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:33:56 +0000

Well, it’s true, randomness is fun, up to a point. But while I’m standing at the roulette wheel I’d at least like to have enough rational stability on the part of the casino operators not to suddenly find myself staring at the rings of Saturn once I step outside for double-iced mocha. And FAULT IN OUR STARS was a rational gamble on someone’s part; not the sort of thing you see everyday and all..

By: Miriam

Miriam — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:56:03 +0000

Nicely put, Suzie and Anonymous. I’m reading THE FAULT IN OUR STARS NOW, Kevin, and it’s exactly the kind of randomness that makes me grateful to have wandered into this business a while ago now.

By: Suzie Byrd

Suzie Byrd — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:47:47 +0000

Random is good. There are no coincidences. You’ve got to get into the flow of energy that is swirling around in the universe with the great ideas and the next book that needs to be written. I wrote one of those books. It’s timely, relevant and contemporary. It is going to happen, sooner or later, one way or another. No anxiety here. I have faith in, “Game On”, because it was a nice adventure and the energy around it is…awesome. Being in the game is always to be relished, the outcome will take care of itself.

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 20:32:50 +0000

I’ve been operating for some time on the scientifically proven (at least from my monitering station) premise that there is no logic, calculus, or rational linkage involved at any step of the way in the book business, at least on the acquisition side. It is, as so many robojections note, a subjective business, and you could cherrypick any title off the bestseller lists and find a dozen excuses not to sign it. You could also find about twice that many editors and agents who passed on the project for a variety of whim-driven reasons, almost none of which involve talent. So, keeping money in mind as opposed to some Arthurian Grail of “literary merit”, here’s how I would catagorize the in-pile if I was unfortunate enough to be in Dan Menaker’s shoes: Pile A: No-brainers; sure sellers like Stephen King that should speak for themselves, or obvious envelope-shredders like the Hunger Games that any reasonably conscious entity should see coming from a mile off. (But you’d be surprised how many don’t) Pile B: Black Swans: The Book Thief and (much though I’m skeptical how many actual kids are buying and reading the damn thing) Fault In Our Stars which are a bit harder to predict and more of a gamble. The stuff like the Tibetan goat-herding book and the epic poetry about suffering agender vegans in wheelchairs mostly comes from agents and editors who have so successfully gamed the system they don’t have to even think about the money end and can concentrate on the really important details, like what the Tribeca cocktail circuit is going to think. Why doesn’t Woody Allen make a movie about these people?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:36:54 +0000

I’d rather live an adventure, reaching far past my finger tips, than live in a safety net of predictability.

For me, anxiety comes when I fix my eyes on a certain outcome, rather than the work at hand. Writing is a joy! Editing is painful, but when the creative mess starts to come together, it’s like nothing else. That feeling of, I pulled it off – I can’t believe I pulled it off. Maybe I can do it again.

Of course, I’m still in the editing trenches trying to pull it off. Ha!